


nothing remains, not even memories

by Duck_Life



Category: New Mutants
Genre: Gen, Memory Loss, New Mutants #37, New York City, drug references, the beyonder is a huge dick
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-18
Updated: 2019-06-18
Packaged: 2020-05-14 11:31:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,010
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19272400
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Duck_Life/pseuds/Duck_Life
Summary: In Manhattan, Roberto da Costa forgets his best friends.





	nothing remains, not even memories

The guy's obviously got money. It's clear from his flashy jacket down to the leather shoes on his feet. Tabitha tails him for a block, planning her approach. She's thinking she might bump into him accidentally-on-purpose, snatch his wallet in the confusion and then slip away. If she’s sneaky about it, she can pocket half the cash and let the Vanisher think she stole less than what she really did. 

This rich stranger will never see it coming. All it takes is knocking into him and distracting him, maybe turning on the charm. 

Of course, it's more  _ fun  _ if she gets to use a timebomb. But believe it or not, she can appreciate the value of discretion. 

Just as she gets closer to the guy and prepares to strike, he suddenly stops walking and sags against the brick wall of a nearby department store. His head hangs, his shoulders tense up. He makes a noise, and it takes Tabitha a moment to register that it was a sob. The guy is  _ crying _ , breaths coming in quick labored pants, his shoulders heaving. 

Her plan skids to a screeching halt. She may be a teenage trashcan but she’s not actually chill with robbing a guy who’s currently bawling his eyes out. Tabby’s steps falter, and she stops right in front of the stranger.

He turns around then, pressing his back against the brick wall like he can't stand without it, and it hits Tabby that he's just a kid. Her age. 

And he's not just crying but wheezing, breaths rushing in and out of him way too fast. His eyes are wide and dazed, and he doesn't seem to notice she's there. 

"Shit," Tabby sighs. She’s watched enough friends turn into tweakers. She knows how to recognize a guy who can’t handle his high. "Hey. Hey, you." She steps closer to him."Uh… are you okay?"

His crazed eyes meet hers and he mumbles something in a language Tabby doesn't know. Maybe Spanish. In between the words she can’t understand it sounds like he’s saying names— Sam, Dani, Doug, Sam again. "Oh boy. Guy, hey. You speak English? What did you take?"

"Take?" he repeats, looking fuzzy and faraway— and freaked out. 

"Yeah, like. Drugs?" she says.

"No, no," he mutters, wrapped up in whatever's going on in his head. "No, I didn't… that's not… Why can't I remember?"

"You don't remember what pills you took?" Tabby says, walking closer to the stranger. 

"No, I didn't take anything," he says. 

Tabby huffs. "Dude, look at me. I'm not a cop. If you just tell me what you're on I might be able to help you come down."

"No, that's not it," he insists, holding his head in his hands. "I just… I think I'm…" He shakes his head, curls tumbling across his forehead. Tabby decides he would be cute if he weren't having an emotional breakdown.  “No, what’s… ? The Beyonder…” 

Tabby’s heart skitters in her chest. She remembers the Beyonder all too well— she’d joined up with him, taught him everything she knew about Earth and people, which was kind of a lot. She’s witnessed plenty of the ugly ways humans treat each other, and she’d happily shared with her friend the Beyonder everything she knew. 

He had responded by scaring the hell out of her, displaying freaky-deaky omnipotent powers and acting like he didn’t even care much if she lived or died. Ultimately, she’d been too wigged out to keep running around with him, and she’d called the Avengers on his ass. 

If this guy is freaking out because of the Beyonder, she can’t really blame him. The Beyonder is a scary dude. Whatever he’s done or is doing to this kid, it must be bad. He’s shaking and breathing in gasping, heaving breaths. “I don’t  _ want _ to forget,” he cries out. That, more than anything else, drops a heavy pit in Tabby’s stomach. 

This guy looks like he’s swiftly losing his mind. 

And then, just as suddenly as he’d started freaking out, he stops. His face smooths over, blank, kind of unsettling. There’s still a single tear lingering on his cheek, but instead of looking distraught or upset, the guy just looks weirdly serene. 

“Dude?” Tabby says, kind of wishing she would’ve just swiped his wallet and gone back to Beat Street. 

The guy’s eyes refocus on her. “Oh. Sorry about… uh…” He pushes himself back off the wall. Tabby stares. The stranger isn’t shaking anymore, and his breathing is even and normal. He wipes away the tear on his cheek bemusedly, doesn’t even seem mildly concerned. What the hell? “I’m kind of lightheaded. Shouldn’t have skipped lunch,” he reasons out loud. Tabby just nods mutely. “I’m sorry. Who are you?”

“I’m no one,” Tabby says quickly, just kind of standing there and watching him. She’s trying to fathom how this random guy just had a total freakout and now he’s acting like nothing happened. “Look… are you, like,  _ okay _ ?” 

“Hm? Sure, I’m fine,” he says, glancing up and down the sidewalk. “I’m…” He trails off, his forehead wrinkling. It smooths over again just as quickly. “I’m just about to go back to Rio. Plane takes off in a couple of hours.” 

“Okay,” Tabby says, thoroughly weirded out. “Do you… should I call someone? Do you need me to call someone or something? Like maybe Sam, whoever that is?” 

His forehead twists up again in confusion. “Sam?”

“Yeah, you said his name just a minute ago,” Tabby says. She does not say,  _ When you were in the throes of a crazy-ass psychotic break _ , because she’s a nice, polite person, damn it. “He a friend of yours or something?”

“I don’t… no, sorry. I don’t know anybody named Sam,” he says, adjusting the strap on his duffel bag. “Well, I should get going. Sorry to bother you.” He gives her a cheerful half-wave that she returns even though her head is spinning. Then the stranger walks away, leaving Tabitha standing on the sidewalk trying to determine what exactly she just witnessed. 


End file.
